Panthers expect to use option on QB Newton

Summary of 2 articles · Updated Mar 25, 2014

If the Panthers pick up the option, Newton would make $14.7 million in 2015, guaranteed only in the case of injury. ORLANDO While reiterating Cam Newton is the Panthers’ franchise quarterback, general manager Dave Gettleman said the team will use the fift… (more)h-year club option to keep Newton under contract through at least 2015. Newton had surgery on his left ankle last Wednesday and is expected to miss four months of offseason work. Newton, a two-time Pro Bowler, posted a career-best quarterback rating of 88.8 and engineered four fourth-quarter comebacks last season, leading the Panthers to the playoffs for the first time in five years. The team likely will wait until the last minute, because once the option goes into effect, the fifth-year salary becomes guaranteed. “We’re in conversations on that now,” Gettleman said Tuesday at the annual league meetings at the Ritz-Carlton.